Understanding How Demographics Relate to Breast Cancer Survival

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

Increased overall mortality in African American women with breast cancer was linked to clinical and socioeconomic factors, according to a study published online in the journal Cancer.

This study included 2,387 women diagnosed with stage I to III breast cancer who were treated at the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) between 1996 and 2005, 34% of which were African American. Demographic and clinical information was obtained from the HFHS, the Metropolitan Detroit Cancer Surveillance System, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Results showed African American patients were at an increased risk of having larger, hormone receptor-negative tumors and being affected by economic deprivation. Furthermore, African American women were more likely to have more comorbidities compared with white patients.

Before adjusting for clinical and socioeconomic factors, African Americans were found to have a significantly greater risk of mortality (HR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.16, 1.59). The effect of race was found to be statistically insignificant after adjusting for clinical (HR = 1.13; 95% CI: 0.96, 1.34) and socioeconomic factors (HR = 0.97; 95% CI: 0.80, 1.19).

The authors concluded that clinical and socioeconomic factors can explain the racial differences among survivors of breast cancer.

However, they did note that African American women with breast cancer were disproportionately affected by larger tumors and other unfavorable characteristics, which may contribute to their decreased overall survival.

Increased overall mortality in African American women with breast cancer was linked to clinical and socioeconomic factors.

This study evaluated the relationship between demographic, treatment, and socioeconomic factors and breast cancer survival among women in southeast Michigan.

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